There has been an audio storing and reproducing apparatus that encodes (A/D converts) an externally supplied audio signal, stores the resulting signal into a semiconductor memory, such as a RAM, reads the encoded signal from the RAM according to the operation of a reproduce switch or the like, and decodes (D/A converts) the read-out signal, and provides audio output, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,368,988.
With the conventional audio storing and reproducing apparatus, when a single semiconductor memory is used as a single recording and reproducing apparatus, addressing is initiated, starting at the first address in a recording or reproducing operation. However, in a case where a single semiconductor memory is divided into blocks and the blocks are selectively recorded into or reproduced from, addressing must be initiated, starting at the begin address of the selected block. To do this, it is necessary to send data on the begin address of the selected block to the address control section, preset it, and update the addresses, starting at the begin address. When the encoded data is stored in a volatile memory, such as a RAM, the stored contents will disappear in the case of the expiration of the battery's service life, the replacement of the battery, or a power failure. To avoid the loss of the stored data, use of a nonvolatile memory, such as an EEPROM, can be considered. The EEPROM, however, requires a very high driving voltage, as compared with a CMOS circuit that operates on about 1 V, for example. For this reason, an electronic circuit for controlling a recording and reproducing operations that operates on a relatively low voltage and an electronic circuit including nonvolatile memories have to be composed of separate chips, which need to be controlled by different voltages separately. As described above, when the main circuit section and the electronic circuit including nonvolatile memories are assembled by separate chips and a single nonvolatile memory is divided into blocks as described earlier, and the blocks are selectively recorded into and reproduced from, the begin address of each block must be addressed directly, with the result that a plurality of terminals are needed as the input terminals for address data, which leads to the problem that the size of the chip including nonvolatile memories becomes large.